London Chess Classic 2011 - FIDE Open - Round 9 (Final)

Disastrous ending for the tournament which I started equally bad. Maybe too much pressure (trying too hard) to win with White pieces. My opponent responded with Sicilian which i wanted to convert into some irregular opening but finally went onto French Adv Variation. God only knows why I made this silly blunder (15.Bg5) after very good start (especially pieces development). All i wanted to do was to place rook on c1 then Be3 should have been played (15.h4 would have given clear advantage which i saw during the game but didn't move it). After 15.Bg5, I knew i lost it right there but kept playing only to see a blunder from my opponent but he never gave me a chance. Though disappointing tournament but not a bad start considering my opponents skills/experince/professionalism (they play at atleast 4-5 chess clubs), All i need to do is keep playing (wonder how can I do it considering other priorities) to improve my game. Hope to publish more games (in case I play) and will try to write something on Chess...

London Chess Classic 2011 - FIDE Open - Round 8

I got bye in 7th round and it was good as i was suffering from back pain, headache and a bit of stress. Again in round-8, I started great and got pawn advantage in middle-game tactics but could not convert it into victory. I offered draw when he placed his rook so nicely in front of my passed pawn but he refused (tired of draw refusals) but after few moves, he offered draw (in fact, he tried to make 3-fold repetition) Rd 3,5,6 and 8 were hard-fought for almost 5 hours. Rd #1,4,5 should have been won by me but Timely blunders made me handover all of them.

London Chess Classic 2011 - FIDE Open - Round 6

After 2 back-to-back disheartening loses, It was tough to comeback especially against ~2100 ELO. He started with typical Pirc/Modern defense but later converted into Caro-Kann (Its typical problem with closed/semi-open games). I took lot of time to move 16.Qb4 which was defintely not a great move but it works Over the board as it adds up lot of pressure (could have been easily defeended by 16...a5) I pushed my pawn to a5 as he missed that move. I offered draw after 42nd move (dead draw) which was refused by opponent as usually (as if he had some winning lines). Later he had to offer draw on Move-60 to which I responded sensibly. Very hard-fought game played for nearly 6 hours!!

London Chess Classic 2011 - FIDE Open - Round 5

Another disappointing day where I started brilliantly but failed to convert it into Victory. I should have played 14...Rh6 to win and I also had lot of time adv. as he took almost 1 hour for his 2 Q moves. After 15...Rh7, Queens were exchanged and position suddenly became equal. SO I Offered him draw (was refused by my opponent) and went on to make few mistakes later on in hurry (lot of time on clock with additinal 30min after 40th move). I was so upset that i didnt even talk to my oppenent, simply singed score-sheet and left. Next day I apologied to him and he replied "No Problem, I can totally understand".

London Chess Classic 2011 - FIDE Open - Round 4

It's easily the most disappointing day as I surrendered from easily-winning position. It's easy to see those much-needed moves from "outside" but I don't know why I missed them (I completely missed few good moves and could see few other but somehow didn't play them). It was even worse when my opponent was showing few winning-lines for me in post-game analysis. After my post-mortem, I asked myself: 1. why 14.Qd2 instead of Qd5 (easy win and anyone would resign from black side - I was not interested in Q exchange)?? 2. why 16.Rhe1 instead of Bd4 (Sadly i saw Bd4 and thought lot about it but end up playing Rhe1) 3. Why 19.Bg5 instead of Bxc7 ?? (Wanted to keep Bishop in same diagonal of Q&K) Finally Queen Sacrifice (as if previous blunders not enough) which was a decisive blunder and i made it by not seeing 23.....Bd6 in my 10-ply deep thought. Despite all above, Its very interesting game with Many sharp lines.

London Chess Classic 2011 - FIDE Open - Round 3

Here comes the Round-3 with black pieces against ~2100 ELO player and I chose Ruy-Lopez Berlin defence (Also called as Berlin Wall – Its named after Kramnik developed it lot and used against Kasparov in WC very effectively where Kasparov could not win single game with whites against Kramnik in this variation) Actually this game could have been draw and there were blunders from both sides. But my opponent was running short of time so I too started playing quickly (to give him further less time – i had lot of time on my clock) and eventually I made a couple of blunders but that technique finally paid off.

London Chess Classic 2011 - FIDE Open - Round 2

After disastrous start in round-1, my confidence level was pretty low and the only positive thing about round-2 that I was going to play with White pieces. I prepared quite a few rare openings to trap my opponents but end of the tournament It was evident that almost all the players playing LCC prepared for all openings. I started with my favourite 1.e4 (thankfully she didn’t respond with Sicilian) and the entire game was very even to both sides resulting in a dead draw. I offered draw on move 25 and she accepted it (Only player to have accepted my draw offer in entire tournament). I tried to exchange Queens to push into end-game which would favour me but she never gave chance to do so. Same was told in post-game analysis. Draw after terrible round-1 gave me lot of relief and a bit of confidence.

London Chess Classic 2011 - FIDE Open - Round 1

On 3rd Dec 2011, The tournament begins and tension all over. I was actually paired with an FM (2100 ELO) who didn't turn up and was re-paired after 30-min against a 1799 ELO-rated player with black pieces. Though started well, I didn't expect he would delay and do long-castle (Early short castle in quite common in this opening) and realized it only when he played 10.Nf1 (by that time i already did 0-0) I knew he was playing wrong and using some cheap techniques to crush me but unfortunately i didn't know on how to capitalize his bad Middled King (no castling). I went into complete defense mode 12....Nh7 (had i played 12...d5 - would have won easily) So my misery started with crushing lose to 1700+ player. PS: He used same technique in all the rounds (with white pieces atleast) and was outplayed convincingly by his opponents.